Chapter 28: The Storm
Ye Zhan’s first reaction was not to turn back, but to quickly squat down with his head in his hands and burrow into the belly of the desk, and then he carefully looked up. He saw that the window was indeed opened by a small margin, and a white paper airplane flew in, swinging melodiously in the air, and landing right at his feet.
Ye Zhan was stunned for a moment, he did not touch it, but quickly went below the window, squatted under the window, and looked out the window with the mirror that came along the table. He looked back and forth to make sure there was nothing unusual outside, and the guy walking on the wall seemed to have left before he cautiously raised his head and opened the window to look out.
Nothing.
Ye Zhan took a deep breath, closed the window again, locked it, and then returned to the desk, picked up the paper airplane, and opened it to see a long string of alphanumeric passwords written on the white paper.
“Wait, are you saying someone flew a paper airplane for you from the window, and the paper airplane had the password for the encryption program written on it?” Qi Yuan felt incredulous.
“It’s weird, right, I think the other party may be a person who has awakened the ability to fly or climb, or a robot like a drone, and they must be an insider of the research institute, otherwise it is impossible to know the password.” Ye Zhan said.
“And they, for some reason, helped you behind your back.” Qi Yuan said, “Why?”
Ye Zhan shook his head, “I still can’t guess their identity and purpose, the paper airplane was made of the most ordinary printing paper, and the handwriting was deliberately crooked. In addition to that, it didn’t look like it was something prepared for that moment, it looked like it was something rushedly written, the handwriting was very new, and the words were still inky after a little touch.”
“Anyway, I opened the program with the password he gave me, and it contained thousands of pages of documents, all written in English letters.”
“English?” Qi Yuan asked. In the aftermath of the disaster, countries were cut off from other countries, and English, once the world’s common language, is now rarely spoken and can be used almost as a secret language among scholars.
“Yes, it’s not any kind of pinyin script, it’s a bunch of garbled characters, or rather, compiled passwords.” Ye Zhan said, “I think it was something either Feng Cheng is specially trained to recognize, which is probably not difficult to do with her IQ, or there is a special decryption program. But I didn’t have time to look for it, so I had to use my phone to take pictures of the materials. I only had time to take five photos before I heard the sound of the elevator arriving, I didn’t dare to stay, and after restoring the scene to its original state, I ran away through the window.”
“No wonder you didn’t give me a birthday present that day.” Qi Yuan was thoughtful.
“Don’t pay attention to strange things, okay?” Ye Zhan said, “Are you not curious about the content of the information?”
“What is the content of the information?”
“Of course, I couldn’t decipher it myself, and I didn’t dare to hand it over to the official organization. So I found a familiar mercenary, printed out the materials and rolled them into small paper rolls, hid them in the mezzanine of her boots, and asked her to take them out of Xuancheng and find a bar called ‘Crimson’ in the Free Capital, and give it to the bar owner. He’s a good guy I know, and I was writing to ask him to help me find a cryptographer. Anyway, a week later, the mercenary got the deciphered ciphertext, took it back to Xuancheng in the same way, and handed it over to me.”
Because of the isolation of various places, the internet did not exist to connect them, and other means of communication were in the hands of the authorities, which was easy to monitor, this was the only way Ye Zhan could come up with at that time.
This is the truth of the so-called “betrayal”. Ye Zhan didn’t feel that he had done anything wrong, he was not from Xuancheng, the person whom he was staying for was Qi Yuan, and the person whom he would take risks for would only be Qi Yuan.
“Why didn’t you look for my father?” Qi Yuan asked.
“I don’t trust anyone, not even your father.” Ye Zhan shrugged, “I only believe in myself.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Vb sbe vlvc’a afii wf jybea la flatfg.”
“Df gfjrbcjyif,” Tf Itjc mtemxifv, “ktja mbeiv sbe vb ab tfiq wf atfc? ”
Lf vlvc’a tjnf j mbcafwqaeber jaalaevf ja jii, yea Hl Tejc vlvc’a rtbk vlrqifjregf bc tlr ojmf jcv kjr lcrafjv, j ilaaif raeccfv, “Vb, sbe jgf cba j agjlabg ja jii.”
“The standard of judgment is not in my hands.” Ye Zhan didn’t dwell on this, because he didn’t care at all, “As for the content of the ciphertext … It’s amazing, just those five pages I got made me lose my mind a little.”
This was a lie, and in the case at the time, his first reaction after reading those pages of information was that he wanted to kill someone.
“What’s written on it?” Qi Yuan asked.
“Proven in practice, the way to control you,” Ye Zhan sighed, “For example, the ‘Vermilion’ potion, how many doses it can reach can destroy your sanity, a special range of ultrasound, which cannot be heard by human ears, but you will go crazy when you hear it, and for example, how much fire, electric shock, and suffocation can cause damage to you when you are dragonized. These are first-hand accounts that have been obtained through experiments on you.”
With just those five pages, there were already 12 methods, behind each line of thin lead words, Ye Zhan seemed to be able to see countless blood and tears, he could hear the screams- he couldn’t calm down, couldn’t forgive, but there was nothing he can do, he can’t tell anyone. For the 19-year-old boy at that time, the secret was like a sudden gunshot that tore apart all illusions of peace and tranquility.
“……” Qi Yuan was silent for a long time before slowly revealing a self-deprecating smile, “So they didn’t inject me with dragon blood to keep me alive, but they wanted me to become a test subject for super soldiers.”
“I don’t know if that’s all there is to the 3/4 plan. I went to the research institute again, photographed more information, and commissioned a mercenary to help me take it out, but this time, she was caught by the Dragon Scale Legion, and then I was sold off by her.”
Qi Yuan already knew what happened after this- because he secretly passed the information to the outside, Ye Zhan was arrested as a traitor and fell into the hands of Qi Chaiyuan. When the mercenary was caught, she destroyed the paper scroll, and Qi Chaiyuan didn’t know the contents, so she tortured Ye Zhan.
Qi Yuan was so anxious that he couldn’t save him, and the dragon blood, which had been stable, fluctuated violently, and his life became in danger. He was forcibly imprisoned in the hospital, sedated for treatment, and day by day he was in a state of confusion, waking up for less and less time, and his health became worse and worse, after which he fell into a complete coma.
“I was locked up for a month, I didn’t say anything, I was physically and mentally weak to the extreme.” Recalling those memories, Ye Zhan still couldn’t help but feel numb, “Then one day, when I was alone in the cell, and suddenly I felt something gently poke my head……”
19-year-old Ye Zhan barely opened his heavy eyelids and saw a paper airplane lying beside him, the white paper quickly stained with the blood on his body and became mottled with blood.
Ye Zhan looked up, and there was an air outlet for the ventilation duct above his head- he first thought that a person was there but on second thought, that was impossible, humans can’t get into such a narrow place at all, so it should be some remotely-controlled machine that brought him the paper airplane.
This time, he opened the paper airplane with trembling fingers, and a bunch of keys and a card fell out of it.
The smallest key opened the handcuffs in his hand, the other opened the prison door.
In the dead of night, Ye Zhan did not rush to escape, but went to the administrator’s room to steal some food and water, went to the toilet to wash off the blood stains on his body, tore his clothes, and hastily wrapped the wounds, and then put on the spare clothes in the cabinet of the cleaning staff, and limped out of the prison gate.
There were only two guards, and both were absent-minded which was already the tell-tale sign that something was tampered with.
There was a loud bang in the west, the dark sky was lit up by firelight, and a small storm engulfed the solid structure of the Institute.
Ye Zhan approached and saw a group of people watching from afar, his ears were buzzing, and he heard words such as “out of control”, “crazy”, and “third young master”.
The Dragon Scale Legion rushed to suppress the problem- no wonder there were only two guards left. If he ran over now, he could make a mistake and get caught by the guards, which was no different from sending him to death.
Ye Zhan thought about it, changed directions, and headed to the flight base.
The permission card in his hand, numbered Mazarine-17, corresponded to a brand-new flying ship.
The mysterious man of this origami airplane helped to the end.
Ye Zhan found the corresponding flying ship, activated it with the permission card, and the hatch opened smoothly, turning into steps and descending at his feet. A tall and handsome robot was standing in the doorway, bowing to him. “Good evening, master. I’m your butler, Shen Lan.”
Ye Zhan walked two steps when suddenly his knees weakened, and he almost fell before Shen Lan immediately helped him up, his skin was warm and tough, just like a human being.
“Master, you need treatment.” Shen Lan couldn’t wait to show off his navel, where he could pull open a delicate little medicine box.
Ye Zhan pushed his hand away, limped to the console, looked at the messy operation interface, and fell into deep thought. Why didn’t this mysterious man give him a pilot training fee, even if he had a flying machine, he wouldn’t be able to drive it!
This was the first time Shen Lan was activated, the first time it had a master—although he seemed to be in a terrible state and had a very unfriendly attitude, the robot had to learn to please humans—he was more ambitious and more attentive, “Master, aren’t you in good spirits, do you need a cup of coffee?”
Ye Zhan didn’t seem to hear him as he leaned on the console, gasped, and asked, “Do you know how to fly a plane?”
“Yes,” Shen Lan smiled, “I’m the master of the flying ship, equipped with an automatic flight system. As long as it’s not a combat mission……”
“Take off immediately.”
“The airspace isn’t available for flight…”
“I said, take off immediately.” Ye Zhan repeated it word by word before he then coughed uncontrollably, and the ground was suddenly sprinkled with blood.
“Okay.” Shen Lan lowered his eyes respectfully. As soon as the words were spoken, Ye Zhan felt the floor tremble, and a downward pressure meant that they were climbing up rapidly.
“Take off without permission means we will be attacked.” Shen Lan said in an unchanging, flat tone, “There could be surface-to-air missiles or fighter jet pursuits.”
“Then blow them all up,” Ye Zhan tapped on his hollow chest, “Can you do it?”
Shen Lan blinked: I don’t know anything, I’m just an innocent butler robot……
Although his program only has tricks like how not to spill a full glass of red wine and how to fold bunnies with a napkin, he tried to do whatever his owner needed. Shen Lan nodded, “I will obey.”
Fortunately, tonight, the forces of the Dragon Scale Legion have been transferred to suppress the chaos so the aircraft flew smoothly over the place of the incident. The situation at the scene was far more terrible than Ye Zhan imagined, with the main headquarters of the research institute as the center, all the trees and the buildings were trembling in the wind. Countless rolled-up debris went with the trajectory of the wind, and a giant whirlwind was hovering on the ground, dancing and setting off a manic current as if it was about to rise into the sky and disappear into the nebula.
The headquarters was in ruins, and the people on the ground were as small as worms, letting out inaudible shouts and roars, wielding ridiculous abilities and weapons. Some of the crashed fighters were lying on the road, and the rest that did not crash only dared to stand far away.
Ye Zhan saw Qi Yuan, with two horns on his head, his skin covered with black scales, and his red eyes full of madness and tyranny. He sat at the top of the building, on the broken wall stripped of steel, the wind whirling around him, but not a single strand of his hair was blowing.
He’s about to become a depraved!
The moment he completely loses control of himself, this highly condensed and uncontrollable force will turn into a storm that destroys the entire city!
Just looking at his figure from afar, Ye Zhan felt like a rat on top of a poisonous snake, unable to even give birth to the idea of escaping, completely out of instinctive awe, the fear of human beings for tens of thousands of years of huge, evil, and darkness intimidated his body and mind.
It took several seconds for Ye Zhan to feel his heart slowly swing down, and his calf was still trembling uncontrollably. At the same time, he also understood why there was no Dragon Scale Legion to stop him, he was still like this, and others might not be as strong as him and couldn’t help but kneel and worship.
“Master, let’s run.” Shen Lan made a rational suggestion.
“Move forward.” Ye Zhan said.
The robot didn’t care about life or death and obeyed his orders, and the flying ship was like a small sampan, rushing into the sea of wind without hesitation. Qi Yuan seemed to have just noticed this human machine that could be crushed with one hand, and his blood-red eyes looked over, and through a layer of glass, he saw Ye Zhan.
Ye Zhan knew that this was a complete gamble, if he couldn’t wake him up, Qi Yuan would indulge his power endlessly, and finally become a degenerate, or even die.
“Open the hatch.”
“Master!” Shen Lan was taken aback, he had an obligation to stop humans from committing suicide.
“Open it.” Ye Zhan ordered.
“Yes sir.” Shen Lan opened the hatch, and a howling wind rushed in, blowing up what had once been considered an organized interior. Ye Zhan clung to the bulkhead and shouted his name loudly, “Qi Yuan – Qi Yuan – don’t be afraid, I’m here!”
It was obviously a monster that everyone feared, but he said to him: “Don’t be afraid.”
Qi Yuan’s scarlet eyes looked over, at first he was only attracted by the movement of his prey, and the narrow beast’s pupils emitted a faint red light in the night. Then he saw his prey, he was covered in bloody wounds, he smelled delicious, and he was shivering, but he was still approaching, he was calling his name –
“Qi Yuan!”
Qi Yuan’s eyes widened, and in a red, dirty, and distorted world, he saw that face clearly, as if he had set off all the winds just to wash the dust over and over again so that the figure of that person would become clear again, and then occupy all his mind. He suddenly forgot everything, couldn’t breathe, like a man drowning in the water suddenly finding an island, all the desire to survive, all the hope of life, all accompanied by tears welling up, and the strange red eyes were soaked in tears. At that moment, the transcendent divinity in his body, the indestructible mountain, suddenly collapsed, revealing the soft core inside. His lips trembled, and he unconsciously muttered, “Brother…”
omg i’m really curious who the person who help ye zhan is